


DeCiphering the Falls

by PersonWhoDoesntExist



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Bill - Freeform, Gravity Falls - Freeform, Hai, Love, Murder, Mystery, Other, Random Unfinished, TRUST NO ONE, Weirdness, Wooop?!!, anything, persons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-09
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2019-03-28 21:43:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13912791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PersonWhoDoesntExist/pseuds/PersonWhoDoesntExist
Summary: Dipper and Mabel return to their summer home after three years, but they bring along their too-cool cousin, Cherie. She soon accidentally begins to discover that the Falls aren’t as they seem, which includes making a deal with Bill; his freedom for the secrets of Gravity Falls. They are soon wrapped up in a world of mystery as Gideon mysteriously disappears, and after that, nothing is the same again.





	1. Chapter 1

3rd POV  
Mabel and Dipper would be arriving at the stop with their cousin, Cherie, who was fifteen and of average height, looks, and smarts. Or that is, so they thought.

They were the same age, and barely got to see each other, but apparently, their nearly indifferent parents thought it would be another great opportunity for ‘bonding time’.

What that really meant was that they would be working yet another job at some fancy place to scrape up the money for a pack of cigarettes like the capitalists they were.

The bus jostled and bounced once more, and an uncomfortable Cherie tried looking out the window for a source of entertainment. The views were supposed to be pretty amazing up here, and he wasn’t about to waste any photographic chances. She pulled out her Kodak, one of the high-resolution models , and snapped a few pics of the falls.

They were sad little things, on the verge of drying up. Its pitiful that the industrial world would be that cruel to the wildlife. Quickly, she hid the camera away in her studded denim bag, and pretended not to care again. Nobody needed to know that she had a secret soft spot.

The bus pulled up to what seemed like the middle of nowhere. This was not going to be a pleasant summer whatsoever. Mabel and Dipper excitedly got up and ran to...a run down shack with misspelled lettering? Oh no, thought Cherie. Dread covered her face as she looked up at the thing, vines growing up and twirling to fit around the curve of the windows: it was her summer home.

The story was that after two years of travelling the world with his brother, Ford, Stan got tired of the adventure and went to settle down again in the Mystery Shack. Ford was apparently still mystery hunting or whatever.

Cherie had thought it was going to be a quaint little tourist attraction with polished linoleum flooring and overpriced tiddlywinks, but with ‘shack’ in its name, this place was definitely holding up to reputation. The place of one-thousand glass eyes glued to the faux-leather molding of an unidentifiable animal.

Cherie regretfully followed her cousins into the shack, where Stan sat lazily behind the register wearing an old cheap suit and an eyepatch that wasn’t needed. Mabel ran up to hug him and Dipper followed behind casually.

After a few seconds of the embrace, Stan yelled in his sarcastic Grunkle-voice, “Alright, you’re gonna give me ulcers with that chokehold Mabel, and as for you Dipstick, not bad, but it’ll be awhile before you can inflict some real damage like Mabel over here!”

“What’s an ulcer?” said Mabel, laughing. She had finally gotten out of the metal traps encasing her teeth, and as soon as that had happened, she ate the world’s supply of popcorn in a day. Dipper, Mabel, and Cherie went to the attic to unpack, a dreary makeshift bed standing out among two perfectly made others.

Cherie grumbled towards the mattress with a blanket and started unzipping her suitcase. After doing that and being bored for an hour or so, Cherie turned off the lights. “Hey!” the twins said in a unison protest. Cherie could hear the squealing of springs telling her that they had gone back to their beds

 

In the middle of the night, Cherie woke to Dipper’s flashlight shining upon the remains of burned paper. It had a six-fingered hand marked ’3’ faintly scrawled on it. Dipper then proceeded to take out a normal journal and jot down a few notes in it.

“What’cha doin’ Dipstick?” I asked. He nearly jumped out of the bed, but then he realized it was only me.

“Nothing!” he countered, too quick and nervous for it to actually be ‘nothing’. Cherie nodded, unconvinced, then rolled back around so he wouldn’t see her eyes, still pondering what had happened tonight.

“Well, night then Pine Tree,” she said. Dipper shuffled around to face Cherie. “Get it? ‘Cause you always wear that stupid hat dork!” Cherie thought of it as a joke, only one of many names that he were to be called.

“Don’t you ever call me that name again. Not you, not anyone.”

Cherie felt uncomfortable, as if the moment that had just happened wasn’t exactly one of his fondest memories. She wondered what else her cousins were hiding from her.

 

The next morning, they were all forced as human slaves to clean the shack and sell a bunch of useless junk to random country town hicks. Cherie noticed an odd thing about some of the snowglobes; instead of regular snowballs that would rain down, they were multicolored metallic spheres, and the town had an eerie glow to it inside of those globes, like something wasn’t quite right with it.

“Hey Cherieeeee!” whispered Mabel excitedly. “Wanna make this more fun?” she giggled, almost as immature as she was four years before, and Cherie grinned slightly.

“Whaddya have in mind?’ implied Cherie. Mabel snickered and gestured to the vending machine with her head.

Dipper must have seen it, for he immediately said, “Nope! Remember the ‘Never Mind All That’ act?”

“That stuff came before you-know-what! We can at least divulge a little of the town’s secrets, and anyways, she’s related to the builder of it, even if by a cousin’s uncle,” said Mabel in a sly, almost purposeful manner, like she wanted Cherie to ask more and be intrigued.

The trick worked, because through her tough-girl layers, curiosity radiated from Cherie. “Builder of what? And what’s the never mind thingy?” she exclaimed, wanting to know more. Mabel smirked at her, then input the code, all the while Dipper begging her not to.  
Mabel paused for a second and realised her mistake. She flipped over the ‘open’ sign on the front window so that it now read ’Sorry, we’re closed! No refunds ever!!!’

“Shoo, shoo!” yelled Mabel through the chaos. “Scram Mcgucket!” The well dressed man sighed, and walked out of the room before breaking into s sprint.

“Y’all ain’t never gonna catch me! Whappidyoo!”

That was a twist to his looks. Everyone in this crazy town was somewhat...off. McGucket seemed rich and smart at first glance, but then broke into fake words that made no sense the next time you did a double-take.  
Mabel finally input the last digit. The vending machine pulled back, revealing an old elevator.

“Great, she saw the secret elevator, nothing else to hide, now close the machine Mabel!’ said an angry Dipper. She shook her head no, and proceeded to scoot Cherie inside the machine, Dipper still tugging on the back of her shooting star sweater. It was old, and you could tell the few places where it was mended by hand-sewing, but she had a sweater on all the time, so who could judge?

Dipper reluctantly followed the two girls. Mabel was about to push one of the buttons, but Dipper intervened. “This one! We’re taking her to the portal room, not the one with creepy you-know-what tapestries!” He snapped, a little too much worry in his voice.

“I thought we had all those removed?” Mabel said with a troublesome grin. Dipper got to the button before Mabel, and they were off to the...portal room.

“What is the you-know-what?” inquired Cherie.

“Oh, you know, the usual...a giant scary triangle th-!”

“Mabel!” hissed Dipper. She obliged unwillingly, then winked at Cherie.

1st POV  
I knew there was something off about this town! Although, I didn’t quite believe Mabel’s rants about there being a triangle that terrorized the town, so that story’s for another day, but this!

 _A real life portal! I can’t understand, I’m at a loss for words!_ The elevator grinded to a stop, and we walked out hesitantly. I couldn’t believe it, right before my eyes, stood a knockoff sci-fi plastic portal. It wasn’t even in good condition, pieces of dismantled glass and what looked like styrofoam were strewn everywhere. “Oh, so that’s what you meant by portal, another lame attraction by your grunkle Stan,” I said, disappointed.

“Wha- no! It works!” said a nervous Dipper. “Now lets get eriechay outway ofway erehay!” he whispered to Mabel. Suddenly, I got an idea.

“If it works, why don’t you show me?” I said innocently.

“Yeah, Cipher’s gone now, so it can’t cause any harm!” said Mabel playfully, “But seriously, don’t touch it,” she later retorted.

Dipper nodded in agreement, and the conversation was over. The power level was at zero anyways, but that could easily be fixed with electricity. I took one long last look at the place, scrutinizing and memorizing every detail. The metal walls, the supposedly real portal, the bulletproof glass shielding us from actually touching the button turning off the portal.

That was odd, two things were, actually. Why would a cheap old man buy bulletproof glass for a sideshow attraction, and secondly, why was the off button set on the inside? Mysteries at the mystery shack...before I knew it, I was walking back into the elevator with Dipstick and Mabel. That day sure was weird, I thought. When we got to the top of the elevator/vending machine, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something more had happened, and that the story they were feeding me was a piece of swiss cheese.

 _Little do they know that I have paid attention the entire time._ I casually waited until they went to watch old man shows with Grunkle Stan in the living room, then tried my hand out with the vending machine code. I wouldn’t go anywhere but the portal place, at least, that’s what I told myself.


	2. Cue Cipher...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi

1st POV

I woke up to a beautiful sunrise. It was one of the most peaceful sleeps I had gotten in a long time, and it was doing me some good. I had finally gotten used to the old mattress after three sleeps in it, and had been using the portal place as a sort of private study. I got up earlier too on my own accord, mostly because I had to work in the Mystery Shack, but today was a Sunday, so the shack closed at 3:00!

I had no clue what I was going to do with all of that extra time on my hands: Dipper was to be writing probably, and Mabel would be glueing boy-band stickers to Waddles, her pet pig. I got on my leather jacket, and went to start my shift at the shop.

It was a slow day, and customers were few. Neither Mabel, Dipper, nor I could make it fun. I was slowly growing tired of Gravity Falls instead of getting used to it. For most of the day, all I could do was watch the clock slowly tick by, its awful noise drilling into my head. I realized that it was three, then nearly sprinted to change the sign outside to closed again.

There was only one option now; exploring, I had heard many things about the mysterious occurrences in Gravity Falls, but believed them all to be tall tales until now. What had changed my mind was a number of things; Dipper being uncomfortable about me calling him Pine Tree, the burned remains of a number three with a six-fingered hand, and of course, the portal, which I didn't think was real until all of the obvious clues in the secret room pointing to it.

I walked out of the door, bell ringing signaling that I was leaving. "Hey, where are you going?" asked Mabel.

"Just...going to explore this town a little more! I think it's growing on me," I said halfheartedly, a fake smile plastered on my face. I strode out the door and began my search for something interesting.

The deeper into town I went, the more 'normal' everything was. There was a lady with one droopy eyelid sweeping the porch of a restaurant, but in the same place over and over again. The only person that didn't look to be frozen in time was a red-headed girl wearing flannel. She looked like she might provide some answers to this madness.

"Hey, do you know what's been happening over town...say, a few summers ago?" in the summer was the most obvious time, because that was the only other time Dipper and Mabel had been here, and it seemed like they had more than a few memories built upon this old town.

"Never mind all that, but if you really want to know, you either go to McGucket, or, well, nothing, I guess," she said, nervously laughing.

I slowly nodded and backed away, and she discreetly pointed in what I hoped was the direction of McGucket's house. I started into the forest, keeping at a steady pace, until I realized that I was hopelessly lost in there. It seemed to all fade into grayscale and like I was going nowhere and everywhere at once.

It's a deal! A voice rang through the trees, and the world was suddenly back to normal again. Ahead was something that I had not noticed before, a little statue staring out into the distance with a cartoonish spindly limb stretched out. A stone triangle with an eye; surely not the weirdest thing in town, but alright!

I had the feeling that I was supposed to do something, but I didn't know what. I kept on walking ahead, but within a few minutes, I found myself still, sitting in front of the statue. I was going in circles, more lost than an abandoned puppy.

I thought back to the voice. It had said something about a deal, and deals were usually accompanied with a handshake. The figure did indeed look like it desperately wanted to shake my hand. I didn't know why I did it, I knew nothing would happen, but there I was, shaking the creature's hand. Its arm was stiff, and it made for an awkward handshake, yet under my breath, almost as a ritual, I whispered, "It's a deal."

I could feel the ripple effect, or a slight tremor, maybe, and the world was back to grayscale. There was no more statue, instead, it had been reanimated, a glowing yellow triangle in front of me.

"Haha! Thanks...Jacket? How about Sequin?" It miraculously spoke without having any visible mouths.

"My name's Cherie," I said dumbfoundedly.

"Okay kid, we'll work on that. The name's Bill! Pleasure to meet your acquaintance! How about some spinal fluid?" It said, a little too excited. Viscous fluid appeared magically, and I shuddered, hoping that it wasn't really someone's spinal fluid.

"Dude, you have a screw or two loose!" I said.

"Feels good to be ba-, wait, that's it?" the triangle exclaimed.

"What's it? Trust me, I've seen some pretty weird stuff around here," I replied boastfully.

"What do you mean what's it? I'm a floating triangle that took a vital liquid from someone's body and gave it to you, yet you merely reply with, 'Dude, you have a screw loose'?! You should be cowering in fear!" On the last part of the sentence, Bill's voice deepened and he turned red, but only for a second. He snapped his fingers and the spinal fluid stuff disappeared, hopefully back into the body of whoever it had come from.

I just shrugged in response to his last words, because why would I be afraid of a ripoff illuminati guy in a bowtie and tophat? "Well, continuing," he shot me an annoyed glance, "it feels so good to be back! Hey kid, we got off on the wrong foot there. You made a deal with me, remember?" Magically, a little flashback screen appeared of me shaking the statue's hand in sealing whatever the deal was.

"So? What do you want? Fame, money, power, stickers?" he asked oddly.

"I want…" I thought about it. I didn't know really, but soon came up with something. "I want to know the secrets of this town!" I said, but my confident tone betrayed the nervous look in my eyes.

"OK then! Let's make it official. In return, you're going to have to do a favor for me sometime," he replied.

"Wait, that's unfair! I freed you, and you said that you would give me something, but now you're asking for something in return," I discovered.

"Well, here's the thing, if it is to be a fair deal, then I need a little more than 'being freed' in return. You fleshbags have no clue about the extent of the secrets in this town!" There were really that many secrets in Gravity Falls? How did the worth of those secrets exceed fame, or money and power? This was probably Bill's plan. Now that he's got me intrigued about the secrets and such, he'll get anything he wants, but it's not like I had anything to lose by telling him about the Pines.

If the statue was as mossy as it looked, then this creature surely wouldn't have seen or known Dipper and Mabel, and they couldn't have gained those not so fond memories from him

3rd POV

Cherie, after doing some figuring out and deciding in her head, Bill all the while reading her thoughts without her consent, finally chose to accept the weird triangle's deal.

"Hehe, good choice kid," said Cipher, a sort of happy expression crossing his facial area, despite the fact he didn't have a mouth and lacked two eyes. Blue flames erupted from his hand, and though she was afraid, Cherie shook it.

It surprisingly didn't hurt like she had expected it to, just felt extremely weird against her skin, like it wasn't quite right. She shrugged off the feeling, because everything in this town wasn't quite right, and it's not like that was going to change without Bill, for he was to be the one to tell her the mysteries of the Falls.

"Well, see ya' kid!" he shouted, the words echoing through space and time itself.

"Wait!" screamed Cherie, but the demon was already gone.

Cherie woke up in a bunch of bushes, thorns tangled in her hair. There was a small trail of drool inching its way down the side of her face. Cherie sat up, rigid, and wiped it on her jacket's sleeve. She shuddered about what had happened, then realized that she still had not come any closer to discovering what the weirdness in Gravity Falls was all about.

Cherie looked ahead, and saw that through the woods was a clearing leading to an old mansion. She hoped that it was McGucket's house, but couldn't be sure, because it looked awfully neglected and worn from misuse. The gates were open, and Cherie gingerly took steps inside.

"Hello?" she called out into the huge place. It reverbated off of the walls, but so far there was no reply.

"Hmm? Whaddya want frum me? I thawt I installerated them fancy security sistems! If you're here to dec'rate my lawns with dose hip spray pain' then scram!" Though his speech was slurred, Cherie could tell that beneath the veneer was someone with some real brains.

"I was told that you could say what happened some years ago: the never mind deal?" Cherie asked, still unsure of two things; whether or not McGucket could help, and where he even was in the capacious house. Every story must begin and end with a sort of question in mind.

(place change)

Dipper and Mabel felt something had happened, something they couldn't quite put their fingers on. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, but a familiar one at that. They had both sensed it, and duly looked at each other strangely as if meeting an old friend at the same time. Dipper couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched everywhere he went now, and that his mind somehow wasn't safe anymore.

Mabel just ignored the feeling, until she got a slight inkling of what it meant. "That feeling like I forgot something, or maybe something bad happened," she paused for a moment, then realized what it was, "Oh no, my mini muffins are burning!" She quickly ran to the fire extinguisher, opened the oven and sprayed the foam wildly, coating everything in the house with weird carbon-chemicals. "Well, that's a relief," she said, returning the extinguisher to its rightful place, even though the glass had been smashed to use it an infinite number of times through the years.

Even though the supposed 'situation' had been solved, there still was one puzzle piece in the equation that wasn't fitting with the rest.


End file.
